Putting the Children’s Migration in Context

The dramatic surge in the number of Central American children and teenagers entering the US has created considerable concern among many in the United States. Already this year, 52,000 children have been apprehended. The latest estimates indicate that almost 90,000 unaccompanied minors — overwhelmingly from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras — will be picked-up by the US Border Patrol through this fiscal year ending in September 2014, almost double last year’s total.

For many of us who have conducted research in Central America, this surge is hardly surprising. What is troubling, however, is that the debate over what the US should do with these children has centered on how to deport them as rapidly as possible. The naive notion is that deportation will send an unmistakable message not to attempt the dangerous journey north.

The first question we ought to be asking is: how do we aid these traumatized, troubled young people? Much of the intense, politicized outcry over these developments ignores the fact that, at its core, our immediate treatment of these migrants is a serious human rights question and a critical humanitarian issue. The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 60 percent of the children who have fled to the US qualify for international support, including asylum, and this estimate could prove low.